01.18.14 Perfect winter day to learn I am a hoarder......

     It was a perfect day. Fishing is slow. It was hailing and then raining. Its winter. The Fly Fishing Show is next weekend. NFL playoffs are on tomorrow. Today was a great day to organize my life.

          No matter how many times I have tried in my adult life I can't seem to just get organized.

As I went through things in bins and boxes I realized I have held onto things since I left home over 25 years ago........and even today I still couldn't get rid of them, well not all of them. But I tried. What is funny is the various mix of things that I have and might hold onto......just for example.......

In one bin I found, old medication, a broken plate that I made in grade school, a Star Wars Princess Leia doll (the original- must be worth a fortune!!), a bible, a prayer card, an old expired drivers license, a a roll of film that has yet to be developed (probably 30 years old), a cow, some tweezers and a nipple to fill balloons up with water.

And that's only one box or bin.

     I have boxes and bins that reflect all of the jobs and places I've lived in my adult life. There's fire, nursing, photo, fly fishing - Verona, West Orange, Red Bank, Middletown, Ocean ....and even an Ab-Roller mixed in.

     What makes me laugh, or almost cry, is how I justify holding onto some of this stuff. I always dreamed of my sons and I enjoying Lionel Trains together. I started buying them before they were born. I went to auctions, yard sales, estate sales, flea markets.....you name it.....before eBay was around when you could find really good stuff. When you collect old trains the real standard is "mint in the original box". I have more bins of old post war Lionel trains and just bins of boxes than I can count. We played with them a few times and then they went back in the boxes and bins. 

But what's funny is somehow I transferred saving boxes to fly fishing. I have kept every box from every reel I have bought. Somehow in my mind when I am done using these reels and spools they came in just might be worth more if I have the original box. Or maybe I think that if I have to get one repaired it will look more "legit" and well taken care of if it arrived at Orvis in its original box.

Or, maybe I'm just nuts.